British Antigua and Barbuda

In March 1831, a newly implemented law in Antigua prohibiting Sunday markets, to the fury of most of its enslaved inhabitants, sparked rioting and arson among many slaves. Martial law was declared on Antigua, with the colony requesting reinforcements from Barbados to bolster its own militia, although the unrest in Antigua never developed into a full scale revolt like the Baptist War that would break out in Jamaica later that year.[8] With all others in the British Empire, Antiguan slaves were emancipated in 1834, but remained economically dependent upon the plantation owners. Economic opportunities for the new freedmen were limited by a lack of surplus farming land, no access to credit and an economy built on agriculture rather than manufacturing. Poor labour conditions persisted until 1939 when a member of a royal commission urged the formation of a trade union movement.[4]

Colonial ensign of Antigua and Barbuda from 1956 to 1962

The Antigua Trades and Labour Union, formed shortly afterward, became the political vehicle for Vere Cornwall Bird who became the union's president in 1943. The Antigua Labour Party (ALP), formed by Bird and other trade unionists, first ran candidates in the 1946 elections and became the majority party in 1951 beginning a long history of electoral victories. Voted out of office in the 1971 general elections that swept the progressive labour movement into power, Bird and the ALP returned to office in 1976.

Behind the late 20th century reviving and re-specifying of the place of African-Antiguans and Barbudans in the cultural life of the society, is a history of race/ethnic relations that systematically excluded them. A colonial framework was established by the English soon after their initial settlement of Antigua in 1623.

Mixed-race relationships and later immigration resulted by the late 19th century in the emergence of five distinct and carefully ranked race/ethnic groups. Among themselves, there were divisions between British Antiguans and non-creolised British.

Immediately below the British, were the mulattoes, a mixed-race group resulting from unions between, generally, white European males and enslaved African women, many of which took place in the years before the expansion of enslaved African population. Mulattoes were lighter in shade than the masses of Africans. Some white fathers had their sons educated or trained in crafts. They sometimes benefited them in other ways, which led to the development of a separate class. Mulattoes gradually distinguished themselves from the masses of enslaved Africans. They developed complex ideologies of shade to legitimate their claims to higher status. These ideologies of shade paralleled in many ways British ideologies of white supremacy.

Next in this hierarchy were the Portuguese— 2,500 of whom migrated as workers from Madeira between 1847 and 1852 because of a severe famine. Many established small businesses and joined the ranks of what was by then the mulatto middle class. The British never really considered Portuguese as their equals, so they were not allowed into their ranks. Among Portuguese Antiguans and Barbudans, status differences move along a continuum of varying degrees of assimilation into the Anglicised practices of the dominant group.

Below the Portuguese were the Middle Easterners, who began migrating to Antigua and Barbuda around the turn of the 20th century. Starting as itinerant traders, they soon worked their way into the middle strata of the society. Although Middle Easterners came from a variety of areas in the Middle East, as a group they are usually referred to as Syrians.

The Irish were first sent to the island as indentured and unpaid servants by Oliver Cromwell during the mid 17th century. They were treated harshly and had to live in depraved conditions. Many of the Irish, most of whom were Catholic, died from severe sunstroke and sickness and those who survived lived in extreme poverty. Irish indentured servants were replaced by African slaves in the mid to late 17th century as they were more suited to working in the sun and heat. The Irish were used by the British as a buffer group between them and the African slaves and became overseers on sugar plantations on the island. Many of the Irish had children with the Africans, which is why many Antiguans and Barbudans have Irish surnames to this day.

Sixth and finally were the African-Antiguans and Barbudans who were located at the bottom of this hierarchy. Enslaved and forcefully transported, Africans started arriving in Antigua and Barbuda in large numbers during the 1670s. Very quickly they came to constitute the majority of the population. As they entered this hierarchy, Africans were profoundly racialised. They ceased being Ashanti, Ewe, Yoruba and became Negroes or blacks. In the 20th century, the colonial hierarchy gradually began to come apart as a result of universal education and better economic opportunity. This process gave rise to Africans reaching the highest strata of society and government.